


The Miraculous Adventures of Ladybug and Reine Ruse

by YoungTrust



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/F, i'm salty and projecting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-04
Updated: 2019-09-10
Packaged: 2020-04-07 12:54:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19085458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YoungTrust/pseuds/YoungTrust
Summary: The last thing that Marinette Dupain-Cheng would have expected when she woke up that morning was to be standing on the balcony of the girl who’d bullied her for years, wrapped in Tikki’s comfortable magic and shaking, tears still streaming down her face. She didn’t know why her feet had led her to the Grand Paris of all places, but her mind kept stubbornly replaying those few moments when Chloe scoffed and actually questioned Lila.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everybody! This is a crosspost from my tumbler account, @bugaboosandbees
> 
> This is the first part of an AU that I've been working on.
> 
> I do want to clarify that the way Marinette views herself at the beginning of this does not reflect the way that I view her. I know that the show forces her to apologize for almost everything even when it’s not her fault, so I’ve tried to reflect that mentality at the start of this by having her have this attitude.
> 
> I would also like to say that I’m sorry if this seems rushed or that it could be better. The fact of the matter is that I’m really nervous to post this, so I decided to just get the first part up when I was too sleepy to second guess myself… As a result, this hasn’t been betaed or edited, so I’m sorry for any errors that you might find. 
> 
> That’ s enough rambling from me! Without further ado, the first installment of my Reine Ruse AU. Please let me know how I’m doing and if you’d like to see more!

_**Marinette** _

It had happened again. She’d arrived at school late, in a mad rush. She hadn’t been able to find her sketchbook that morning, but she knew that she’d taken it with her the previous day. She’d been working non-stop for the past three weeks on a new set of designs – there was going to be another design competition at the collegé, conceptual designs this time rather than physical prototypes and the prize was a coveted junior internship at Agreste Fashions. It was everything she’d ever dreamed of and she’d poured her heart and soul into the designs she was going to submit.

She hadn’t let the book out of her sight for the past few weeks except for the previous day when she’d needed to run across the building to pick up some documents for Miss. Bustier for her class representative duties – documents that hadn’t even been there. She should have known that something was wrong, but between being Ladybug and the competition she hadn’t slept in two days and she was so _tired_. Given how things had been since Lila returned to school, it shouldn’t have surprised her to arrive to the sound of her classmates loudly congratulating the transfer student about her victory in the design competition and it really shouldn’t have surprised her to see _her_ design book in Lila’s hands. 

 

After that, her memory blurred. She’d been so angry and distraught and tired, and she had _tried_ to explain, but no one had listened, berating her again for her jealousy and her hatred and she just couldn’t _do_ it anymore. She’d run away, but as she left she saw Chloe Bourgeois, newly returned from a trip to New York with her mother, scoff and glare at Lila, speaking up to draw attention away from Marinette. She hadn’t even gone home – she’d just shrugged off Tikki’s attempts to console her and transformed into Ladybug, spending the day running across the rooftops and saving kittens from trees and smiling even though her heart was breaking and she wasn’t sure if she’d ever be able to put it back together again.

Before she knew it night had fallen. She didn’t want to go home – not yet. There would be questions about why she’d run from school and her parents were so busy and she didn’t deserve to trouble them with her problems – they worked so hard and they deserved a better daughter… She looked up from her musings as she felt the first raindrops of a storm on her face as the clouds broke open. She needed to get inside, the last thing Tikki deserved was to get sick when she already had to deal with a Ladybug that had so many problems.

She took stock of where she was with surprise. The last thing that Marinette Dupain-Cheng would have expected when she woke up that morning was to be standing on the balcony of the girl who’d bullied her for years, wrapped in Tikki’s comfortable magic and shaking, tears still streaming down her face. She didn’t know why her feet had led her to the Grand Paris of all places, but her mind kept stubbornly replaying those few moments when Chloe scoffed and actually questioned Lila.

Besides, she desperately needed to talk to someone. Her parents were so incredibly busy and she didn’t want to trouble them. Chat had been growing increasingly pushy since Frozer and, although she wanted to believe in the best in her partner, she was afraid he’d feel like she _owed_ him something if she went to him for help. Tikki was wonderfully understanding, but she was an immortal god and despite all her years of experience there were some things she just couldn’t understand. Normally she’d talk to Alya, but… No. The fact was that she didn’t really have anyone to talk to or anywhere else to go. Making up her mind, she raised a red and black spotted hand and hesitantly knocked on the glass doors.

_____________________________________________________________________

 

**_Chloe_ **

The last thing Chloe Bourgeois would have expected when she woke up that morning was for Ladybug to knock on her balcony door in the middle of the night. Nonetheless, she was nothing if not adaptable, especially for her idol. She adjusted her silk pajama robe and ran for the door to let Ladybug in.

 

“Ladybug! It’s so good to see you? Is there an akuma? Do you need my help? Did you stop by to say hello to your _favorite_ civili—” Chloe cut herself off. The darkness had prevented her from noticing it, but the light that spilled out of her suite made it abundantly clear – Ladybug was _crying_.

“Can I come in?” the heroine’s voice was unusually small.

Wordlessly Chole moved out of the way. Ladybug took short, sad steps past her, pausing listlessly when she reached the middle of the room.

Oh god, what was she supposed to do?! As far as Chloe knew, there was no established protocol for dealing with crying superheroes bursting in on one in one’s pajamas. And that didn’t even touch the fact that Ladybug’s eyes were so much more _blue_ this close and Chloe was in her _very_ short and _very_ thin pajamas. She shook her head. It was apparent that Ladybug needed her, and if Queen Bee couldn’t help, then Chloe Bourgeois would have to do. She hesitantly walked over to Ladybug.

 

“Do you want to talk about it?” The words were uncharacteristically quiet and soft. Chloe rifled through her memories, desperately trying to remember how Adrien’s mother had consoled her after so many tears in her childhood. It hurt, to think back to then, but if anyone was worth it, Ladybug was. Ladybug believed in her when no one else did and she’d never admit just how _good_ that made her feel inside.

Ladybug turned towards her, tears still leaking out of her large, bluebell eyes. Without warning, she shot forward and wrapped her arms tightly around Chloe, breaking into incoherent sobs. It felt like forever before the spotted heroine stopped shaking like a leaf, tears drying to sniffles. Chloe awkwardly kept rubbing circles onto her back the whole time, hugging Ladybug as best as she could even as her mind whirled at a hundred miles an hour. What in the ever-loving- _fuck_ was happening? Who could have made Ladybug so upset? It was a good thing she didn’t have her miraculous or she’d venom whatever bastard did this to her… Then again, she could probably still claw someone’s eyes out outside of the suit as well… No, Ladybug needed a shoulder to cry on, not a homicidal sometimes-superhero on the warpath.

Chloe took a deep breath in and maneuvered them so that they were sitting down on one of the plush sofas in her suite. She moved to extricate herself from Ladybug and dammit if the way she tried to cling to Chloe with a small whimper didn’t give her feelings.

She awkwardly cleared her throat. “You need to stay hydrated. You’ve been – I’m going to call for some refreshments. Did you want anything in particular?”

Ladybug wiped her eyes on the back of a spotted glove. “Cookies, if you have them,” she said quietly. “I’ve been out for hours, I need to recharge.”

Chloe nodded, not quite thinking of the magnitude of _that_ statement and picked up the phone at the side of her bed. She didn’t even wait for whoever was on the other end to say hello. “Yes, I need a mug of warm milk and a plate of cookies as quickly as possible. Understood?” She hung up as soon as it was clear that someone had heard her and went back over to Ladybug. “It should be here in a few minutes.”

 

Ladybug nodded silently.

Chloe sighed and braced herself. Clearly, Ladybug needed someone to talk to and for some unknown reason, she’d come to her of all people, so she was going to have to do her best. This really wasn’t her strong suit. “Alright,” she said briskly, breaking the silence. “As many _lovely_ qualities as I have, I have to admit that I’m wondering why you came here tonight. Clearly, you’re upset. Why not talk to that mangy alley cat about it? Or a friend from the other side of the mask? As much as it pains me to admit, I haven’t been… the best person in the past. It seems like there’s someone out there who could give you a hell of a lot better advice about whatever it is that’s bothering you.”

Chloe didn’t miss the way Ladybug flinched, first when she brought up Chat Noir and then civilian friends. Oh, something was definitely going on and somebody was _sooooo_ going to pay for this.

Ladybug twisted her hands together. “I…. I can’t,” she said. “I… I don’t think I have any friends outside of the suit anymore.”

“What happened?” Chloe questioned, trying to make her voice as quiet and reassuring as possible. It felt like squeezing into a too-small shirt, but it must have worked because Ladybug continued.

“They betrayed me.” Her voice broke. “Rena Rouge, Carapace, I knew them both as civilians… I trusted them with the miraculous because they were my best friends. But they took the word of someone they barely know over me and they _hate_ me.” She paused. “They were all I had. Before this year, I didn’t have any friends at all. They were my very first.” A watery smile broke over her face and vanished. “I tried so _hard_ to be a good friend – I didn’t want them to leave me alone again. I was just trying to protect them from being deceived and manipulated… Oh god, it _hurts_. It hurts so much.”

Fat tears rolled down Ladybug’s cheeks and Chloe’s heart about broke in her chest. If there was one thing that she understood so _very_ well… She scooted closer to Ladybug and wrapped the heroine in as tight a hug as she could manage. She could feel as the shoulder of her robe was dampened by Ladybug’s tears.

“I’m —- I’m so sorry,” she said. “You shouldn’t have had to go through that.” The emotion was getting too thick in her voice too _oh god she could not cry right now keep it together Bourgeois_. She took a breath and carried on. “From where I’m standing it sounds like you were a much better friend than they deserved and they didn’t return the favor all that well. I’m not — I don’t have much experience with things like this. I wish that I knew what I could say to make it better, but I don’t. All I can think of are plans to hit them so hard they’ll fly right out of Paris and not bother you again, but you seem like the kind of person who wouldn’t really be okay with that – I’m rambling, I’m sorry.”

Ladybug choked off a laugh into Chloe’s shoulder and raised her head. “Thank you, Chloe,” She said with a watery and tentative smile as she wiped the tears off of her face.

Just then a knock sounded on the door to the suite. “Miss Bourgeois? Your refreshments have arrived.” Chloe bustled over and opened the door just wide enough to grab the tray before slamming it in the face of whatever poor soul that had delivered it.

She offered the plate of cookies and the steaming mug of milk to Ladybug. “Here.”

Ladybug set the plate next to her on the couch and wrapped shaking fingers around the mug. “Thank you.”

As she sipped the milk, Chloe’s mind went back to something else she’d said earlier. She didn’t quite know how to bring it up in a way that wouldn’t hurt, but if she was right, she needed to talk to Ladybug about it.

“So… you said that things were pretty tense with your civilian friends. Why aren’t you talking to Chat Noir?”

Ladybug froze, looking down at her lap. “It’s probably silly,” she started and stopped. Chloe didn’t speak, only looking at Ladybug until the heroine continued. “He’s always been so flirty and I think that’s just the way he is, so I try to put up with it. It’s just… lately, he’s been… different. When we were fighting Frozer he nearly quit because I wouldn’t return his feelings and ever since Oblivio he’s been acting like it’s a given that we’re going to be in a relationship and he’s getting so _pushy_ and I want to give him the benefit of the doubt, but he’s been more and more flirty and handsy and I’m worried that the people of Paris will think that we aren’t taking our jobs seriously. I’m worried that if I’m too upfront about turning him down again that he’ll just disappear and we’ll lose to Hawkmoth because of my _stupid_ feelings. He’s making me feel really, really uncomfortable.” She winced as she said the last part.

Chloe’s blood was about boiling in her veins. Being Adrien’s friend had given her a front-row seat to quite a few cases of stalking and sexual harassment. Chat Noir was a _superhero,_ dammit. If Ladybug should have felt safe with anyone, it should be her partner. 

Chloe softly rested her hands on Ladybug’s cheeks and held her face up so that she could look her in the eyes. “Listen to me. I know that you want to make excuses for him, but I want you to know that what he is doing to you is _wrong_. It is harassment and emotional manipulation. He’s holding your sense of responsibility to the city hostage to cater to his own ego and desires and that is not right. God, I don’t know how you can go about fixing that, but I want you to know that you shouldn’t have to put up with that shit _ever_.”

Ladybug’s eyes were blown wide in shock. “But he –”

“Shh. I want you to really think about how he’s been treating you. It sounds like you care about your friends a lot. What would you do if he’d been behaving this way towards Rena?”

Ladybug was still for a long moment and then let loose a watery chuckle and shook her head. “I’d probably kick his ass.” 

Chloe smiled ruefully, “There you go then. Now, you said that you had to recharge. There’s a bathroom just down the hall. Go feed your kwami, I bet she’s worried about you.”

Ladybug nodded and grabbed the plate of cookies, slowly making her way down the hall.

Chloe sagged back into the couch and watched her, rage and sadness at what had happened to Ladybug and quiet awe and relief that she had somehow managed to _help_ , to say the right thing as _herself_ for once. She let her own tears fall and prayed for the first time in years for the strength to be able to continue to help Ladybug and to be somehow able to rescue her heroine as Ladybug had rescued her from herself. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! 
> 
> I'm sorry that this second chapter took so long to write. I'm a bit of a recovering perfectionist, so it's still strange to share my writing with others and I ended up putting it off quite a bit...
> 
> As a result, it's not been closely proofread so as to avoid giving me time to second guess myself. 
> 
> (This chapter is quite a bit saltier than I'd planned it to be... yikes! Go visit my tumblr @bugaboosandbees if you'd like to see some AUs I've been working on that are a little less salty...)
> 
> Please let me know if you have any comments or suggestions on how I can improve. Seeing what you all think really makes my day. :)

_ Tikki _

Tikki was worried about her bug. Of course, she loved all of her chosen deeply, but Marinette was so  _ young _ . She was also the first in such a long time to have such an unbridled joy in creation. Tikki could feel her powers sing in harmony with Marinette’s soul as the girl drew and sewed, knitted and baked, and tended the steadily growing garden on her rooftop balcony. And then there were the days when her young chosen would do something so  _ reckless _ or chaotic and it would strike Tikki like a bolt to the chest how much Marinette could remind her of Plagg. 

She  _ knew _ that it was stupid and illogical, but sometimes when she slept at night, she selfishly dreamt that the girl was really  _ theirs _ . Beyond loving Marinette as a partner and a friend and a mentor, Tikki loved her as a mother. And it was tearing her apart inside to see her chosen,  _ hers _ , so distraught. She tried to be there for Marinette as best as she could, pressing into her side from inside her purse and offering encouraging words. She had never wanted quite so badly to be human, to have arms to hug the child of her spirit with. She knew she was being selfish, she would never dream of taking Marinette away from her human mother who had those arms, ready for hugging, if only she could persuade her chosen to make use of them! 

She cursed everything that she’d said to Marinette in the beginning. Lessons to make her into a better Ladybug be damned, she’d somehow managed to convince her chosen that the weight of the entire world rested on her small shoulders and that she didn’t deserve to ask for help in carrying her burdens and  _ nothing _ she said now could convince the girl otherwise. Plagg’s wayward chosen certainly wasn’t helping either! The next time she saw her other half, she was going to have  _ words _ with him about disciplining his kit. 

She had to admit that she was actually grateful for Chloe Bourgeois. That wasn’t something she thought she’d ever say. She’d disliked the girl from the moment that she’d first heard her belittling her chosen from her hiding place in Marinette’s bag. That being said, for some reason, she was the only rock that Marinette seemed willing to cling to in the storm she was fighting through. It had been a week since she’d first seen her bug fall into the Bourgeois girl’s arms through Marinette’s transformed eyes. She’d found herself accompanying her chosen to Chloe’s balcony every night since seeing a new side of the blonde as she treated her chosen as the treasure she was. 

She was relieved that Marinette was allowing someone to pick up her broken pieces. She wished she could do more to help, but she would be there, right by her chosen’s side until the very end, and that would have to be enough. 

_ Marinette _

Walking into class the morning after she had fallen apart in the comforting arms of the girl who’d bullied her for years was easier than Marinette expected. She looked up as she crossed the threshold of the room. It wasn’t unusual to see the entire class gathered around Lila and Adrien’s desk, or, unfortunately, the death glares the group sent toward her as soon as she’d come through the door.

“Good morning.” She hated how her greeting was quieter than it had been since the previous year, since before she’d met her first real friends. Now she was back to wondering what awful things would happen if she spoke too loudly or took up too much space in this room. She couldn’t afford to be further targeted by Lila, she couldn’t afford to be akumatized. If that meant returning herself to the sidelines, that was what she was going to have to do. 

“Marinette!” It was Alya, voice strong with the righteous anger that used to fill Marinette with awe and pride in her friend. “How could you?!”

Marinette wasn’t quite sure what exactly she was supposed to have done, but she shrank back from Alya’s anger nonetheless. She must have looked confused, because the class bristled. 

“I’m sure there’s some explanation,” Lila simpered tearfully from the middle of the group. 

“Explanation?!” It was a wonder Alya’s screech didn’t deafen her. “She convinced Gabriel Agreste that you stole your designs for the contest from her because she was jealous you won the internship! There is no explanation or excuse to defend what a  _ bitch _ she’s being!” 

_ E tu, Alya? _ Marinette’s jaw dropped. Lila had been discovered? But, she never talked to Mr. Agreste. She’d cried and given it up as a lost cause. Even if she could somehow get in contact with Mr. Agreste, she’d die before letting her idol know the trouble she was facing or how weak she was. But if she hadn’t told Mr. Agreste that Lila had stolen her designs, who had? 

_ Chloe _

It had been a week since Chloe returned from vacation with her mother to find that everything had somehow gone  _ wrong _ at school in her absence, the entire class fawning over the shady Italian exchange student who was obviously lying through her teeth and glaring daggers at the little-miss-too-perfect-for-words Marinette Dupain-Cheng as they’d rarely even dared glare at  _ her _ in the past. When Cesaire of all people had led the charge in tearing down Marin--- Dupain-Cheng for claiming that Liar-la’s contest-winning designs were actually hers, Chole found herself breaking into the conversation (not to be  _ nice _ or anything) out of sheer shock. She left the class alone for two weeks to spend some (admittedly disappointing) time with her mother, and they apparently no longer had two brain cells gathered between them. 

After the disastrous Monday of her return, Chloe had initially planned not to do anything about the strange situation at school. She had no interest in Lila’s plans, whatever they were, and it was frankly amusing to see her holier-than-thou classmates fawning over the liar. Then, after Ladybug had left that first night, Chloe had found herself, quite against her will, thinking of Marinette Dupain-Cheng, running out of the classroom, tears streaming down her face. Something about Ladybug’s story had reminded her of the sudden changes in the class’ attitude toward the blue-haired designer and, even if she’d never been and would likely never be friends with the baker’s daughter, she could certainly appreciate the appeal of working out her frustrations with Ladybug’s traitor friends on the class full of turncoats she  _ did _ have sway over. Besides, it had become significantly more fun to irritate Dupain-Cheng since she’d begin to grow a backbone and it irked her to see her rival losing the confidence she’d somehow obtained over something so  _ stupid _ . 

It had been easy to get her father to request a word with Gabriel Agreste who, though a recluse,  wasn’t stupid enough to ignore a request to talk to the mayor of the city his fashion empire was based in. It was almost physically painful for Chloe to tell her father to inform Mr. Agreste that Lila had stolen her designs from Marinette, but she admitted that it would look like a repeat of the derby hat competition if she didn’t have proof that Lila was lying, and she’d learned the hard way about the lengths her classmate went to in order to prevent the theft of her designs. She told her father to suggest that Mr. Agreste should turn the designs upside down and inspect the stitching that Marinette was sure to have hidden somewhere in her images. 

She’d expected to go to class the next day and wade through a sea of satisfying guilt and self-deprecation as her classmates groveled at Marinette’s feet, but it appeared that she’d underestimated either how good a liar Lila was how utterly ridiculous her classmates could be. Lila had somehow managed to convince them that Marinette had tricked Gabriel-fucking-Agreste into believing that Lila was a liar because she was jealous. Chloe was well aware (and somewhat disappointed) that there did not appear to be a vindictive bone in Marinette Dupain-Cheng’s body. She’d seen Marinette’s perfect parents and home long ago and had terrorized her for years, hoping that at some point she’d snap and show that she wasn’t so perfect after all, but no matter what she did Marinette never rose to the bait. She’d even thrown Chloe a fucking party when she’d become Queen Bee. It was thus completely un-fucking-believable to her that the entire class was buying this shit. She was half certain at this point that if Jagged Stone himself came to class and said that he’d never had a kitten, Lila would be able to pass it off as a weirdly specific case of amnesia. 

Chloe would clearly need to rethink her approach to taking on the interloper, but for now she had more important things to focus on; notably that it had also been a week since the first day that Ladybug had appeared on her balcony at the beginning of a rainstorm crying. Six days had passed since Chloe had discreetly slipped a note to Jean Baptiste, requesting a collection of books -- five since she had returned from school to find them stacked on her desk. She started reading immediately. Ladybug seemed determined to come to  _ her _ of all people, and she was going to do her level best not to let her hero down. For the rest of the week, Chloe filled the hours between school and Ladybug’s visits with books on imposter syndrome, on dealing with trauma, and on learning how to move on from broken relationships. (If some of those had hit rather too close to home, well, she’d never admit it.) She’d practiced what advice to give and how to respond in front of her bathroom mirror and strategically placed even more pillows than usual on the couch that Ladybug favored. After all, she was a Bourgeois, and when a Bourgeois wanted something done, it was done  _ right _ . (If she was a bit obsessive about preparing, that could simply be chalked up to never actually having been the one to  _ do _ any of the aforementioned somethings previously.)

What she lacked in experience of these matters, she made up for in enthusiasm, as evidenced by the cup of hot milk and plate of cookies ready in the room at precisely 8:55 on Thursday night, exactly 5 minutes ahead of Ladybug’s arrival. The heroine had taken to arriving at 9:00 and staying until around midnight, clearly wishing to spend as much time as she could in an environment where she didn’t feel the weight of others’ judgments and expectations. (And didn’t  _ that _ just make Chloe cringe with regret at the memories of her first several interactions with the spotted hero.) 

It did appear that miracle of miracles, the visits were actually helping Ladybug. She hadn’t yet been as distraught as she’d been the first night, and for that Chloe was grateful. They’d mostly chatted about lighter topics or watched movies. Once, Ladybug had actually painted Chloe’s nails, as if that hadn’t given her a minor heart attack. Sometime during the evening, if she’d been on patrol or dealing with akumas, or if it had just been a bad day and she’d stayed out too long, Ladybug would take the plate of cookies and head for Chloe’s bathroom, emerging several minutes after she’d gone in. Neither girl verbalized how much  _ trust _ was in that action, but Chloe knew it down to her bones and she sure as hell wasn’t going to make Ladybug regret it. 

She looked down at her watch. 8:59. Any moment now… Her head shot up at the loud noise from her balcony. What the? Ladybug burst into the room like a dervish, panting and shaking. She ran for the hallway and as she passed Chloe, her panicked eyes locked with the blonde’s. 

“I’m not here. If he asks, I’m not here. Please, Chloe.” 

Shocked, Chloe nodded and Ladybug darted inside Chloe’s bedroom and shut the door. 

Warily, Chloe walked over to the open balcony doors and looked outside. What was going on?


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again all! I hope that you guys are having a great week! I’m really excited to see what you all think of this chapter. I hope that it lives up to your expectations! I do want to note that I drew a lot of inspiration for Chloe and Chat Noir’s conversation in this chapter from @miraculouscontent ‘s “Been there, done Chat” installment of their LadyBugOut universe on Tumblr and DeviantArt. (If you are on this website and have by some strange twist of fate not seen this au, I suggest that you go look at it now. It’s AWESOME.) 
> 
> Anyway, I think that’s all for now... I hope that you enjoy! Once again, I'm sorry for any errors that you may find. This story is un-beated. 
> 
> Also, let’s pretend that either Princess Fragrance didn’t happen or Chloe has totally forgotten what Tikki looked like, okay?

_ Chloe _

As soon as Chloe saw a flash of blonde hair leaping across the street towards her balcony and Chat Noir landed on the stone before her, out of breath, everything made sense. 

“Where is --” She didn’t even let him finish asking before she wound up and slapped him in the face. “Ow! Hey, what the --”

“Stop.” She was too angry to fight the urge to flinch as her mother’s voice left her lips. Sharp enough to cut glass and shatter dreams, it stopped Chat Noir mid-sentence. “Sit down,” face hard, she gestured to one of the patio chairs behind him. “We are going to have a conversation, Chat Noir. And you are not going to leave, move, or even open your mouth until I am finished, do you understand?”

Still gaping like a fish, he fell back onto a chair, likely more from shock than anything else. Good. Unfortunately, she didn’t have Pollen or her powers right now, so if he actually decided to fight back there was, realistically speaking, not much she could do. She  _ hoped _ that he wouldn’t hurt a civilian, but the way he’d apparently just been  _ chasing  _ Ladybug across the city like a goddamn predator was causing her to have second thoughts. It would be better if she could get this all out before he decided how to react. Even if he didn’t listen to her, she could at least give Ladybug time to work out a plan or get away. Keeping her face carefully blank, she delicately lowered herself into a chair across from him, back ramrod straight and ankles crossed, staring dead into his eyes. 

“I want you to listen to me  _ very _ carefully. I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you’ve been living under a fucking rock or something and you don’t know the kind of monumental asshole you’re being. I want to tell you a story about my best friend, Adrien. You probably at least know of him, considering his face is plastered across half of Paris. He’s a model, and even though he’s not even in lycee yet, he’s dealt with a gross amount of sexual harassment. Girls will pursue him and hang over him and touch him without his consent. It makes him feel insecure and uncomfortable in his own skin. I can’t even fucking count the number of times I’ve had to step in at a modeling event. I hate those fucking things, I only go because I know that if I don’t keep an eye on Adrien his fucking deadbeat dad won’t either and Adrien’s too unsure of himself to tell people off, even when they’re  _ harassing _ him. He’s had to take out restraining orders against people and be nervous about  _ stalkers _ finding him. The things that it’s done to that boy emotionally… it’s really profoundly shitty for anyone to go through. So, imagine my surprise when Ladybug drops by for a visit because there’s apparently no one else she can fucking turn to and starts making the same excuses for her goddamn  _ partner _ that I’ve heard Adrien make for more than one of his harassers! ‘He doesn’t mean it,’ she said, ‘That’s just how he is,’ she said, ‘I’m just being sensitive and stupid,’ she said.” Chloe’s eyes narrowed into slits. “I really don’t know what your fucking problem is, cat boy, but I suggest that you pull your head out of your ass and stop sexually harassing the partner you’re supposed to be protecting and supporting before you damage her self-image any more. Do I make myself  _ clear _ ?” 

Chat Noir sat stiffly in his chair, eyes blown wide and mouth gaping. If it had been any other situation, Chloe would have been running for a camera to capture his more-moronic-than-usual expression, but, as it was, she merely continued to glare at him until he jolted out of whatever stupor he’d been in. “But,” he sputtered, “but, it’s different!  We’re meant to be! The ladybug and the black cat!  _ Ladybug and Chat Noir! _ It’s  _ destiny _ ! ”

Chloe felt her nails dig into her palms as she fisted her hands. “ _ What? _ ” her voice was dangerously low. 

Chat didn’t seem to notice her growing rage. “She flirts with me all the time and she kissed me,  _ twice _ . We were  _ chosen _ for this -- we’re  _ soulmates _ ! Why can’t she see that?”

Chloe stepped forward, channeling all of her pent-up anger into her arm, and punched Chat Noir firmly in the face. She felt a stab of righteous satisfaction when she saw the blood dripping from his nose, even if her hand did hurt like  _ hell _ . “Do you have any fucking idea what you sound like right now?” She had lost all control on the volume of her voice and was practically screaming at the superhero sitting before her, clutching his bloody nose. “You sound like one of those psychos who straight up murder women because they won’t talk to them on the fucking street. News flash alley cat, Ladybug is a fucking  _ human being _ . She has her own life and her own feelings and she seems pretty fucking sure that you are, not, in fact, in a relationship and that you’re making her really uncomfortable with your shitty ‘nice-guy’ behavior. You have  _ no right _ to any emotions or relationship that she does not want to give you because you don’t  _ own _ her. God, I don’t know what  _ moron _ picked such an entitled ass to protect Paris, but, if I ever meet him I’ll punch him too. Now, Ladybug has made it clear that she does not want to see you, so I suggest that you scram before I  _ make _ you, and go have a long, hard think about your behavior, capiche?” She hefted her fists again threateningly and was pleased with the speed at which Chat Noir flung himself off of her balcony and into the night. Well, that was  _ one _ problem sorted. She turned and walked back through the patio doors of her suite, features melting into a worried frown.  _ Ladybug. _ ..

_ Tikki _

“Spots off!” Marinette choked out as soon as she’d slammed the door of Chloe’s bathroom behind her, sinking to the floor as her transformation faded. Tikki felt herself gather out of the disappearing super suit and flew to hug her chosen’s cheek as soon as she was corporeal. Marinette buried her head in her arms and started sobbing, her entire body shaking. The tiny god’s blood boiled as she wiped away her chosen’s tears with paws that always seemed too small for the girl’s sorrows. She couldn’t believe the  _ nerve  _ of that cat! Not only to be so clingy and prying and personal on a patrol but to chase her bug across the city like he was  _ hunting _ her afterward? It broke Tikki’s heart to see her chosen so distraught and the last thing she wanted to do was to  _ leave _ her, even for a moment, but if Chat had come after them, she had to scope out the situation in case they needed to run again. Tikki pressed a kiss to Marinette’s forehead and then floated up to lock the bathroom door before phasing through it. 

She moved quietly down the hallway, floating close to the wall where she could easily hide. She peered around the corner toward the balcony doors and was greeted with the sight of Chloe slapping Chat Noir in the face. A bolt of vindictive joy shot through her as Chloe sat her bug’s partner down and gave him a thorough tongue lashing about how he’d been treating Marinette. Well, Ladybug, but tomato, tomato. She nearly flew out of cover, vibrating with anger at the entitled way he talked about her chosen. Because of what, two kisses, one which took place to save him from being brainwashed -- again -- and another that neither of them could remember and some mid-battle banter he thought that she  _ owed _ him a relationship?! Fortunately, Chloe liked  _ that _ particular line of thinking about as well as she did and all Chat Noir got out of it was a bloody nose. Tikki watched silently as Chloe chased Chat Noir off of her balcony, clenching her bruised hand and nearly shaking with rage. As soon as he was gone, a change swept over her chosen’s enemy-turned-protector. 

Chloe slumped, the anger draining out of her, and turned back towards the balcony doors, a worried frown marring her features. She took a single deep breath, stepped determinedly back inside and looked around. Tikki could still hear the faint sound of her chosen’s sobs down the hallway and, after taking a moment to think about it, she flew out of her hiding place. “Hello, Chloe.”

Chloe’s eyes widened dramatically and her jaw fell open. “You-you're --” she looked down the hallway. “Is she okay?” 

The mother in Tikki felt a fierce flash of approval that the first thing that Chloe thought of was her bug.  _ Good. _ She looked back over her shoulder. “She’s… having a tough time. Thank you for what you did for her.”

Chloe glanced back toward the balcony and then down at her bruised knuckles. “I shouldn’t have had to.” She said quietly. 

“I know.” Tikki’s voice was understanding as her heart swelled with an unexpected fondness for the girl. She flitted closer and gestured at Chloe’s hand. “May I?”

Chloe looked confused but nodded and Tikki pressed her paws onto the bruises and closed her eyes, concentrating. A moment later she flew away satisfied and Chloe flexed her fingers, surprised that the pain was gone.

“How did -- you know what, never mind. If you can rebuild half the city in half a minute, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.” She shifted her weight from one foot to another. “What should I do now?” The words were uncertain. 

“Let’s go see.” Tikki held a small paw out towards Chloe, who reached forward and softly curled her fingers around it and they moved together down the hallway, drawing to a halt outside the bathroom door. 

“Ladybug?” Chloe questioned, gingerly laying a hand against the door as muffled sobs sounded from inside. 

“Is he gone?” The heroine sniffled. 

“Yeah,” Chloe replied. “I sent him packing. He had no right to do that to you.”

“...Thank you.” The words were quiet and still too despondent.

“... I may have punched him in the face.”

That drew a startled watery chuckle out from the other side of the door. 

“Ladybug… what can I do?” Chloe’s mouth shaped the words hesitantly. 

“I… I don’t know. I guess…” she trailed off. 

“What?” Chloe coaxed gently. She’d picked up rather quickly on the fact that Tikki’s chosen was unusually timid when it came to self-advocacy, especially in the face of the bold front she presented towards supervillains. There could be times, Tikki knew well, that trying to encourage Marinette to admit that she wanted or needed something could be not so different from coaxing a wounded animal out of the brush. For all her usual brashness, Chloe was getting better at reading her chosen’s moods and responding accordingly. Not for the first time that week, Tikki bitterly thought that the Bourgeois girl, of all people, would make a better partner for her bug right now. 

“I…” Marinette took a large, gasping breath from behind the door. “... A hug. I really, _ really _ need a hug right now.” 

Chloe looked at the door, at Tikki, and back at the door. Her eyes sparked and she bolted down the hallway towards her bedroom, running back just as quickly clutching a yellow and black scarf in her hand. Upon reaching the bathroom door, she raised her hands and tied the scarf across her eyes as a blindfold. 

“Open the door,” Chloe said. “I can’t see you, I promise.”

There was a moment of silence, and then Tikki felt a breeze of displaced air against her form as she saw the door open. She flew down to assume her customary comforting place, nestled against Marinette’s neck as her chosen looked at Chloe with teary eyes. Tikki was nearly dislodged as Marinette threw herself at the blonde, sending both of them to the hallway floor. 

_ Chloe _

She couldn’t believe it when she’d heard the door open. She believed it even less when she felt Ladybug’s  _ civilian _ form crash into her, their knees knocking together and Chloe’s elbow banging into the wall behind her as she fell to the floor. She bit back a curse at the tingling that was running down her arm and wrapped her arms around Ladybug’s shoulders. She felt the superheroine’s hands grasp the back of her shirt as she sobbed into her arms. She raised a hand and carded her fingers through Ladybug’s hair, trying to make appropriately soothing sounds. 

Chloe was hyper-aware of the warm skin of Ladybug’s arms that brushed against her own. She was glad that Ladybug’s head was buried in her neck because, despite the shitty circumstances, she was sure her face was about as red as Lahiffe’s fucking baseball cap.  _ This is  _ **_so_ ** _ not the time, Bourgeois.  _ After a while, Chloe could feel her legs start to go numb as her body complained from the lack of movement and the presence of a superhero that was about eighty percent on top of her at the moment. She didn’t particularly  _ want _ to move, but Ladybug’s sobs had trailed off, and she knew that she had to at least try to get the superheroine out of her own head so that she didn’t do something  _ stupid _ like twist the events of the evening to blame herself. 

“So, uh, do you want to watch a movie?”

Ladybug barked out a short laugh and shifted off of Chloe, hands raising to presumably wipe her eyes. “Yeah,” she said softly. “I’d like that.” 

  
  



	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! I hope you enjoy the next installment of this au. This chapter was hard to write and ended up going in a somewhat different direction than I had planned. (Tikki kind of took over.) 
> 
> There were a lot of difficult topics to deal with in this chapter about bullying and emotional harm, and I can only hope that I managed to do them justice. Please let me know if you think there's anything I could improve.
> 
> I finished this over my lunch hour, so it's not been edited and I'm sorry for any errors you might find!
> 
> Thank you all again so much for reading! You're amazing and I hope you have a wonderful day!

_ Plagg _

“Can you _believe_ this Plagg?” Adrien bit out as he grabbed several tissues to staunch the bloody nose that was still oozing despite the long run across the Parisian rooftops he’d had to get back from the Grand Paris Hotel. “I can’t believe that  _ Chloe _ , of all people, would equate me with  _ those people _ ! She just doesn’t  _ understand _ !” Pausing in his tirade, Adrien looked around, eyes finally landing on Plagg who was floating, deathly still and with slitted eyes, in the place Adrien had detransformed. 

For his part, Plagg was  _ furious _ . He couldn’t believe he’d let matters escalate this far, but he honestly hadn’t been aware that his kitten’s mindset had gotten _ this _ warped. He knew the kid wasn’t the best at decoding social cues and he’d felt sorry for the boy alone in such a cold home so, yeah, he’d given the kid a couple more passes for behavior than he might have given another chosen. He might not have been the best Black Cat he’d ever had, but he wasn’t the type to go rogue and try to destroy the world, and he didn’t  _ hurt _ Plagg -- all things considered, he’d had  _ much _ worse wielders in the past and the kid just seemed so _ lonely _ … He’d thought that after the whole debacle with the akuma that flooded Paris that things had more or less resolved themselves and, to be honest, he’d never paid much attention to his kitten’s banter with Tikki’s bug. If he’d only paid more attention… Shit, this really wasn’t his strong suit. Tikki was much better at getting through to people. He knew screaming at Adrien would just make him shut down… he needed to be calm, which would be hard.

“Did you ever consider,” Plagg offered in a level voice, “that she might have been right?”

 If things hadn’t been so serious, Plagg might have cackled at the poleaxed look on Adrien’s face. “ _ What?! _ ”

“Kid, just listen to me,” Plagg sighed. “Let’s go with a hypothetical situation here. Say you were partnered with someone while modeling, and you _only_ worked with that person. You saw that person as your best friend, and you had to rely on them in order for anything to work out at your job. You really like this other person outside of work, but you can’t say anything about it because you don’t want people who know about your job to harass them. You’ve told your partner this, more than once, but they still insist on telling people that the two of you are dating or that you’ll come around to their charms eventually. They derail photoshoots and events by flirting, and you have to do most, if not all, of the work in your partnership. You’re just trying to keep your head down and get your work done, but your partner gets more and more pushy until it’s gotten to the point where they attempt to _physically chase and restrain you_ to demand a date. Adrien, kid, you’re a great black cat, but, _please_ tell me that you see that that’s not a healthy relationship.” Plagg maintained eye contact with his kitten, doing his best to exude the sort of calm and understanding presence that came so naturally to Tikki. _Please, please listen to me._ At the rate things were going, if Adrien didn’t stop what he was doing soon, he’d throw off the balance too far and Plagg would need to take the miraculous back. And Plagg knew, better than anyone, how much Adrien _needed_ Chat Noir. _Please,_ kid _._

Adrien looked down at his hands. They sat there for what felt like ages in silence as Adrien thought and Plagg watched over his kitten. He’d never admit it, but the ancient god felt almost faint with relief when Adrien looked back up at him, tears streaming down his cheeks and face twisted into an expression of horror. “What have I  _ done _ , Plagg?”

_ Marinette _

Any sense of safety that she’d felt evaporated the second she swung off of Chloe’s balcony and into the night. Marinette took the most roundabout way she could think of home, glancing over her shoulder almost more often than she looked ahead and scanning the surrounding rooftops with wide-blown eyes. When she finally detransformed and collapsed on her chaise, she breathed a sigh of relief. She could feel Tikki huddled in the space where her neck met her shoulder as she took several deep, bracing breaths. Once she felt calm and safe again, she looked up at her room and at the dozens of posters and pictures of Adrien crowded across its walls. She’d considered taking them down for a few weeks now, as Adrien’s inaction against Lila had dampened her crush. But now… She looked down at Tikki and sighed. “This was never healthy, was it?”

Tikki met her eyes with the infinite compassion Marinette was still baffled that she could always count on and hardly felt she deserved and gently shook her head. 

“I…” Marinette paused and firmed her jaw. “ _ No _ . I’m not going to be like that anymore. I’m not going to be like that  _ ever _ again.” And as the stars above Paris shone down on a city that slept, its heroine moved methodically about her room, taking down posters and schedules and computer backgrounds. When she finished, it looked… empty, but a  _ healthy _ kind of empty full of promise and possibility. She could already think of so many ways to fill the space she’d freed… but that would be a task for tomorrow. 

She felt her eyelids drooping as she crawled into bed and flung one arm over her face. What had happened that night felt so surreal. Then again, the past several weeks had felt entirely like a waking dream or nightmare. Since Hawkmoth had appeared and she’d become Ladybug for the first time, she’d had to up-end her worldview completely, but she’d  _ done _ that, she’d gotten used to the way things had become. Since Lila arrived back at school everything had been turned on its head once again and Marinette could hardly tell which way was up and which way was down anymore. Alya hadn’t spoken to her kindly in days, her partner was becoming a terrifying stranger, and the only place she felt safe was with Chloe Bourgeois, of all people. She still wasn’t sure why she’d gone to Chloe’s balcony that first night or why she kept returning. Chloe had made her life miserable for  _ years _ , had beaten down her self-confidence to such an extent that she’d had  _ no one _ before Alya and had tried to cut her down at every turn for as long as she could remember. Those feelings of anger and despair hadn’t just disappeared -- but things were so complicated now… She didn’t know  _ what _ she felt about Chloe anymore. Well, that wasn’t necessarily something that she had to sort out immediately either. She’d take this one day at a time, and, if Chloe kept improving and really turned into someone she could truly rely on, well, then she’d think about what it would mean to forgive her. 

She’d cross that bridge when she got there. 

_ Tikki _

Tikki gazed down at her sleeping chosen. The determined frown she’d worn while removing all traces of her obsessive crush from her room had faded as she fell asleep. She couldn’t help the proud feeling that welled up in her when Marinette had confronted her own flaws when faced with the more glaring example of her partner’s. She would have been totally within her rights to have let the crying jag that passed at Chloe’s continue longer than she had, but she’d demonstrated true Ladybug strength yet again and learned from another awful situation what she could. Still, the extent to which Plagg’s kitten had damaged her trust in him was worrying -- on  _ both _ sides of the mask. 

Tikki heard a whimper and glanced down to see her chosen’s face twisted in a nightmare. “Chat, no… why?” she whispered brokenly. Tikki’s face hardened. That was it -- this had gone too far. She was going to Fu. 

_ Master Fu _

Wang Fu suddenly shot awake. He looked at the window beside his bed -- it was still the middle of the night. Why? He felt an urgent pull inside his chest, below his breastbone. He was being summoned? What had happened? He quickly turned toward the miracle box and was met with the sight of the kwami of creation staring solemnly at him. He could read in the downturn of her eyes that she was angry -- angrier than he’d ever personally seen her. 

“Tikki? What is wrong? Why have you come here without your chosen?”

“The  _ boy _ you picked to wield the black cat miraculous is  _ this _ close to completely breaking the balance between Plagg and I’s wielders. He has  _ betrayed _ my chosen on both sides of the mask and just tonight he  _ hunted _ her across the city in what appeared to be an attempt to  _ physically force her _ to reciprocate his feelings. You have allowed him to continue in a dangerous mindset unchecked for too long.”

“But --” 

“I know the reasons that you chose him for the ring, and, if he had  _ ever _ been properly disciplined, I might be able to concede that you made the right decision. You chose a wielder that needed to learn in order to work effectively and then refused to  _ teach _ him.”

“But it would be dangerous to release another miraculous permanently, especially with the new peacock villain. I cannot justify that risk!”

The air in the room stilled and Fu found it harder to breathe. Tikki’s eyes narrowed and she began to glow as she loosed some of her aura into the space. “Cannot justify the risk?” her voice echoed in a way that did not fit her size. “What about the  _ risk _ to my chosen? You may be the guardian of the miracle box, but you forget that you were never formally trained. You  _ forget _ what your mistakes have already cost. You are not infallible.  _ You _ are not a god. And that was  _ not _ a request.”

Fu trembled before her. “V… very well. I shall choose --” 

“ _ I  _ shall choose. Forgive me if I have lost faith in your judgment.” The light around Tikki flashed and the fox necklace appeared in front of her. She grasped the chain in her paws and restrained her power. 

“Wayzz?” Tikki acknowledged the turtle kwami that had been waiting, frozen, in a corner of the room for the first time. “Make sure he actually  _ thinks _ about this mistake.” She met Fu’s eyes one last time, conveying a sense of disappointment and disapproval that almost brought him to his knees, and then she flew out the window and into the night. 

_ Chloe _

Chloe Bourgeois couldn’t sleep. Her confrontation with Chat Noir played over and over again in her head. Her nails dug crescents into her palms as she thought about the  _ proprietary _ way that the cat had talked about Ladybug and the fear in the heroine’s eyes as she’d tumbled into Chloe’s apartment and run to hide. An uncomfortable pang of guilt ran through her as she thought of her friendship with Sabrina before she’d abandoned her for Lila and her previous self-serving idolatry of Ladybug.  _ No _ . There was no use feeling guilty for her past mistakes. She would apologize, and she would not make them again. 

She only wished that she had the power to make her apology to Ladybug mean something more, that she could actually  _ protect _ her, rather than only being there to pick up the pieces that Hawkmoth or Chat Noir had broken. She started as she heard a soft knock on the glass pane of the balcony door. Rising from her bed, she padded over to see Ladybug’s kwami waiting outside her window with a stormy expression, holding a familiar looking necklace. Chloe opened the door as quickly as she was able and gestured the kwami inside. 

“What’s wrong?” She questioned urgently. If Ladybug’s kwami was here  _ without _ her, what could have happened? If that cat had gotten her  _ akumatized _ … 

“Many things,” Tikki replied, “but nothing urgent. There is not an attack, and Ladybug is safe.” 

“Then why --?”

“She is safe for now.” Tikki cut in. “You’ve seen that her partner has demonstrated that he is almost as present a danger to her as Hawkmoth emotionally. She needs help that she can  _ trust _ , someone to stand by her against all threats no matter how hard or dangerous things become.” She stared directly at Chloe. There was a pressure behind her gaze that was almost physical, and Chloe fought to not flinch. “Do you think you could do that?”

It took Chloe a moment to register the question.  _ Did she? _ And then a vision of Ladybug’s eyes, still full of tears, flashed inside her mind. She met Tikki’s gaze evenly. “Yes.” 

For a moment, all was silent as Tikki stared into her soul. Chloe could only hope that the tiny god found something worthwhile there. Eventually, Tikki nodded. 

“Very well then.” She held up the necklace in her paws. “Chloe Bourgeois, this is the miraculous of the fox. It grants the power of illusions. You will use it to be Ladybug’s right hand, her shield, her friend, and her support. You will reveal your identity to  _ no one _ . If at any point you forsake your duty to her, I will reclaim the miraculous and ensure that you  _ never _ forget your mistake. Do you understand?”

Chloe’s heart was beating through her chest. “Yes.”

_ Tikki _

Tikki landed on the small pillow that Marinette kept beside her bed for her use. She looked at her charge once more. She only hoped that she’d made the right decision. The pressure and the events of the day caught up to her and she had to restrain a somewhat hysterical giggle. Dear balance, she’d been acting like  _ Plagg _ . It just showed that, although she might be the “good” side of the universe’s balance, no one was allowed to mess with her family. She nestled down underneath her small blanket. 

“Don’t worry Marinette,” she mumbled sleepily, “things will turn out all right.” Her eyes drifted closed, and she let herself sink into a restful sleep, heartened by the fact that there was now someone she could count on to protect her chosen when she could not. 

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! I finished this chapter a bit early, so I figured that I'd post it a bit early! 
> 
> There's a LOT going on emotionally in this chapter, and I only hope that I managed to do it justice. I am writing from my own limited experiences, so if you see anything I missed or handled in a way that feels wrong to you, please let me know. 
> 
> It means the world to me that so many of you are interested in these dumb ramblings. Thank you all so, SO much for reading!

_ Chloe _

Chloe lay back in bed, resting one hand over the necklace that now hung around her neck, the silver metal seeming too little a weight for its importance. Her new kwami and partner, Trixx, was happily burrowed into a den she’d made him out of one of her dresser drawers and several of her fluffiest winter scarves. Her head was still spinning. 

Tikki had left after setting the necklace down on the table between them. “As soon as you pick it up, Trixx will appear. They’ll explain everything.” Her eyes had softened. “Thank you, Chloe. It will be nice to know that someone has her back.”

Chloe had stared at her determinedly. “I won’t let her down.”

“I know.” Tikki had smiled and then vanished into the night. 

Chloe had stared down at the necklace for some time, noting the way that the silver metal reflected the light in the room. Finally, she had reached down. As soon as she’d touched the chain, she’d had to close her eyes against the blinding orange light that had erupted. When she’d opened them, there was an orange fox-like being the same size as Tikki and Pollen in front of her. 

“Hello,” they’d said, “My name is Trixx, and I’m your kwami! Tikki’s explained the situation to me. I can’t believe what my previous kit did that to Ladybug, but I thank you for taking care of her. I’m looking forward to getting to know you, and I  _ know _ that you won’t make the same mistake.” 

Chloe wasn’t quite sure what to make of Trixx. They were different from Pollen… Pollen was kind and quiet. In the few moments Chloe had had with her, she seemed pretty content to cave to Chloe’s judgment. Although Trixx put on a playful front, they seemed wise and looked at her like they knew a secret she didn’t. She had the feeling that this was a kwami that wouldn’t let their wielder get away with the kinds of things she’d done as Queen Bee at first. She wasn’t going to lie, that was reassuring.

Trixx had explained the powers of the fox to her in as much detail as she could wring out of them. She was going to be the best damn superhero partner Ladybug could ever dream of having, and she couldn’t look anything short of competent her first time out. Illusions were going to be new. She was a bit annoyed that the fox miraculous sounded less combative than the bee, and she must have looked it. 

“Don’t underestimate the power of perception, kit.” He’d looked around her room. “You seem like the sort of person who knows what lies people tell themselves, and how far they’re willing to go to cling to those illusions. You may not be able to paralyze your foes physically as a fox hero, but if you figure out what matters most to them, you’ll paralyze them mentally, which is infinitely more fatal.” 

She’d thought about what Trixx had said and concluded that they were right. When they’d put it that way, she’d started to see that her new power set was more suited to her than she’d thought. She’d grown up in a high-class world of glitz and glamour, learning early on that no one could truly be trusted to not want to use her as a connection to her parents. She’d spent more years than she’d like to admit lying to herself that her mother’s abandonment and her father’s passivity in her life didn’t hurt her, that they really were the perfect family they pretended to be for the press, and that she bullied Marinette Dupain-Cheng because she hated her -- not because she was jealous of the other girl’s boundless kindness and loving home. She could do this. She knew what people wanted and how far they were willing to go to get it. She knew how people lied to themselves and what kind of pain those lies could cause. She could do this, she could use the few, shitty lessons her parents had sought fit to teach her for some kind of good. She had to -- Ladybug was counting on her.

_ Marinette _

Marinette awoke to sunlight streaming over her face. She stretched, still half asleep, and curled her toes into the soft blanket. She felt so relaxed...  She turned her head and slowly opened her eyes to find Tikki sitting on the small bed she’d fashioned for her, eyes closed as a shimmering red glow emanating from her, covering the entire bed.  

“Tikki? What’s going on?”

Tikki slowly opened her eyes. “Good morning, Marinette. I… I thought that after last night, you deserved a really good night’s sleep. Just think of it as a bit of kwami magic.”

Marinette smiled softly. What had she done to deserve Tikki? “Thank you, Tikki.”

The red glow dissipated as Tikki rose into the air, hovering over her charge. “And, it’s Saturday, which means that you should be able to work on the dress you’ve been meaning to finish!” 

Her eyes lit up. “You’re right! I’ve been so busy, but all I have to do this weekend is the history report, and I’ve already picked out my sources, so that shouldn’t take too long!” She rose out of bed, clambered down the ladder to the floor, and stretched, arms raised high over her head. 

“... Marinette,” Tikki sounded almost hesitant. “There is something I should tell you before you get to work.”

Marinette looked up at Tikki questioningly. “What is it?” 

The tiny god sighed. “Last night… after you went to sleep, I was just so  _ worried _ about you, and about everything happening with Chat Noir… I was so _ angry _ . I went to visit the Guardian, and when he didn’t share my concerns… I chose a new permanent hero myself.”

“What?” Whatever she’d been expecting, that was not it. 

Tikki barreled on. “And, I couldn’t take the turtle or the bee, so… I took the fox. I know that things have been complicated with Alya lately, but I didn’t even consider that before I went last night, and I know that the person I picked is someone who is going to really protect you, but I don’t want to make anything more complicated between you and Alya --”

“Tikki, Tikki, it’s okay. I… with everything that’s happening with Chat lately… it will be really nice to have some back up that I can count on. And, as for Alya…” she quieted. “I’m not sure I’d be able to put my feelings aside enough to trust her in battle right now. Honestly, I was dreading the next time my Lucky Charm would call for the fox because Master Fu tells me to choose people that I trust, and… I’m not sure if I can trust her anymore.” 

Tikki flew down to rest a comforting paw on Marinette’s cheek. “It’s okay, Marinette. Everything’s going to be okay. For now, why don’t we get to work on that dress?” 

Marinette nodded and turned towards the half-finished gown on her mannequin with a determined smile. Her kwami was on her side, and she had someone new that she could trust to watch her back. She’d deal with Chat when she had to, but, for now, Tikki was right -- it was time to do something she enjoyed, and she wasn’t going to let anything taint that. 

_ Adrien _

Adrien had been pacing his room for hours. He was so tired, but he hadn’t been able to sleep at all the last night. Every time he’d tried, he’d seen the fear in his Lady’s eyes as she’d run from him the previous night. How had he not recognized it? How terrible of a person was he that his Lady’s fear hadn’t been enough to make him see what he was doing was wrong? Why had  _ both _ Chloe and Plagg had to set him straight? 

It was clear that he’d need to do more than just apologize. He wanted to kick himself. He’d thought he’d been doing things right -- he’d just wanted Ladybug to know how much he cared about her. But he’d forgotten his duty to the city -- and to his partner. His Bugaboo was right -- first and foremost, they were superheroes. And he’d been acting like a jealous anime protagonist. He thought of how he felt when Lila or the models he worked with would hang off of him and flirt and invade his space and felt sick. Of all people, you’d think he’d be the one to realize when someone’s boundaries were being crossed! 

He paused in his pacing and leaned his forehead up against the cool glass of the window. He had no  _ idea _ how to fix this. When it had happened to him, he’d either just dealt with it, in Lila’s case, or his father had filed restraining orders. Neither option was viable here, and, frankly, his stomach churned at the thought of exiling himself from the only person felt like he was really himself with.

The crux of the problem was that he needed advice. Plagg seemed to have exhausted his short bout of wisdom, maintaining that  _ he  _ made this problem, and it was  _ his _ responsibility to fix it. The tiny god had been more affectionate than usual, curling up in the hollow where Adrien’s neck met his shoulder rather than on the small bed Adrien had fashioned for him next to the cheese cupboard. His kwami’s support despite his monumental screw up was the only thing keeping him optimistic that he might be able to fix this somehow. But who else could he go to for advice? He couldn’t talk to anyone as Adrien, that was for sure. If word got back to the press that he’d behaved the way Chat Noir had, Agreste Fashions would get enough bad press that he was sure he’d never leave the house again. But who did he know as Chat, besides his Lady? 

The answer hit him like a bolt of lightning. Of course! Who better for a superhero to ask for advice than the famous Ladyblogger?    
  


_ Alya _

Whatever Alya Cesaire had been expecting to happen that Saturday morning, it certainly wasn’t one of the two superheroes of Paris knocking sheepishly on her window, much less that the superhero in question was Chat Noir. She hurried to open the window and let him in, mind racing. 

“Chat Noir! What’s up?” She exclaimed. Internally, she was confused. Chat didn’t know she was Rena Rouge, so, unless Ladybug told him, he wasn’t here to recruit her for a fight… But it was unusual for him to stop by -- for that matter, how did he figure out where she lived? 

“Hey, Alya,” he muttered, dragging a clawed hand through his hair in a gesture that was uncharacteristically nervous for the confident superhero. His eyes looked a bit watery through the mask. Had he been crying? “I know this is kinda strange, but, I don’t really know many people as Chat, and I needed some advice… If you’re busy, I can totally leave, I didn’t mean to impose, I mean, you’re probably busy and --” he looked like he was working himself up into a frenzy. Just what was going on?  
“Chat Noir! Calm down, it’s fine, I’m not busy. Why don’t you have a seat?” Alya quickly dumped the stack of school books on her computer chair to the floor. 

He complied, sitting ramrod straight, knees pressed together, and hands clasped in his lap. She raised an eyebrow.

“Alright,” she said slowly, “Why don’t you tell me what’s going on.”  
Chat looked down at his hands. “I _really_ messed up.” 

“What do you mean?” she questioned. Was it something to do with an akuma? No, she’d have heard about that… But what else could he mean?

“It’s… Ladybug. I… I’ve been an  _ awful _ partner and a worse friend, and I don’t know how to fix it!” His voice rose in distress near the end of the sentence, and he clenched his hands so tightly Alya was sure that, if he hadn’t been wearing a super-suit, his fingernails would have dug bloody crescents into his palms. 

“Slow down there, tiger. What do you mean by that?” Alya’s mind was racing. What had happened between Paris’ heroes? Sure, Ladybug seemed to be running off pretty quickly after each battle lately, but that wasn’t super out of character… If only she’d been able to get closer to the fighting, she might know what was going on! “I know that Ladybug really values you as her partner, she’s made that really clear in the past. If you’re worried that she thinks you’re not pulling your weight, I’m sure she’d be the first person to tell you --” 

“That’s not it!” He broke in, anguished. “I -- I’m kind of a shut-in in my civilian life. My d-parents are really overprotective, so I don’t get to leave the house much, and I guess I’m kind of clueless socially. I thought that I was… I thought that I was just flirting, but I… I’ve been  _ harassing _ Ladybug and I think she’s  _ scared _ of me, and I don’t know what to do to  _ fix _ it, because I can’t just  _ apologize _ \--” his breaths were coming faster and faster. 

Being friends with Marinette, as much as  _ that _ had gone south lately, Alya knew how to deal with a panic attack. She rested her hands firmly on Chat Noir’s shoulders. “Listen to me, you need to breathe with me. Can you do that? In…  and out. In… and out. In… and out. Just focus on breathing. In… and out.” She could think about how strange this was, and how in over her goddamn head she was later. She kept up a steady stream of soothing words until Chat Noir’s stabbing, choppy breaths had leveled off. 

“Are you alright? Do you need me to get you anything?” She looked at the superhero, worried. 

“I’m… I’m fine. I just need advice. How do I fix this?”

Alya paused. “Well, I’m not sure exactly what happened, but you’re her partner and I’m sure that you can come back from this. It may not be easy, or fast, and the friendship that you have may never be quite the same as it was, but I think she’ll see you’re sincere. If things are as bad as you say they are, it might not be right away, or even soon, and you need to be okay with that. I’m… I’m sorry too. I’ve helped make it worse.”

Chat looked up at her. “What do you mean?”

Alya sighed. “The picture of the kiss from when you were battling Oblivio? She told me not to post it, but I did anyway.” She smiled ruefully. “It looks like quite a few of us have had trouble respecting her boundaries. Just, respect her opinion from here on in. Apologize, be sincere, and act in a way that shows that you’ve learned your lesson and you’ll  _ never _ do something like that again.  _ Don’t  _ push her. If all you ever are to each other is fellow heroes from here on in, you need to make your peace with that. Okay?” She maintained eye contact with him, watching as tides of rolling emotions passed over his face. 

“Thank you, Alya.” He finally said quietly. He paused. “Would it be possible to film an apology for the Ladyblog? I… I don’t know if any civilians have been close enough to see my behavior, but, just in case, I want them to know that I know that I was wrong and that the way I was acting isn’t something any of us should stand for.” 

Alya offered him a bittersweet grin. “I think we can manage that.” 

As Alya was setting up her equipment for the video, a thought struck her. “Hey Chat, if you don’t mind me asking, I mean, I’m grateful that you trusted me enough to come to ask me for advice, but, I was wondering, why didn’t you go to Lila? I mean, you’re so much closer to her, and the girl’s aunt is a world-renowned counselor, surely she could have given you better advice?”

Chat was still distracted and fidgeting, unsure of what he was supposed to say on the video. Without seeming to think about it, he scoffed, “Why would I go to Lila? She lies like she breathes, and she hates Ladybug so much she tried her best to separate us when Onichan attacked.” 

Alya sucked in a breath as if someone had punched her, and Chat seemed to realize what he had said. “ _ Shit _ , shit, forget I ever said that Alya!”

Alya’s voice was small and deadly. “Why?”

“I mean,” he looked unsure, “She’s been akumatized three times already and M’Lady is pretty sure that two of those were willingly, and every time someone calls her out on her lies it happens again, and I’m sure if we just give her a chance to get better on her own it would be better than telling everyone she’s lying and just getting her akumatized again.” 

Alya was having trouble processing. “Wait. You said she was akumatized three times? Wasn’t she only akumatized twice.”

Seeming resigned, Chat shook his head. “You remember Heroes day? Before Hawkmoth turned himself into Scarlet Moth, he gave everyone in Paris negative feelings by showing them that illusion. That was Volpina. And,” his eyes darted back and forth, “I mean, this is speculation, but Hawkmoth can only akumatize one person at a time, and he wasn’t active as Scarlet Moth yet, and M’Lady and I never purified Volpina that day… which means he must have called back the akuma himself…” his voice got quieter “which means she might have… been akumatized willingly.” 

Her world was spinning. If that was true, it would mean… “What have I  _ done _ ?”

Chat looked over at her, puzzled at the horror she was sure was etched all over her face. “Alya? What’s wrong?”

Did he really not understand?  _ Okay, Cesaire, calm down.  _ He’d said he was sheltered, but  _ damn _ this was pushing it. Still, he had come to her, so she’d give him the benefit of the doubt. “Did you really think that it would be better to let her keep lying?” 

“I mean, I guess? She’s not really hurting anyone, and she’ll never get better if we don’t give her a chance?” 

A scoff broke out before she could hold it back. “Sorry, but…” she thought for a moment before it hit her. “How does Hawkmoth make akumas?”

“He uses people’s negative emotions.”

“Exactly. Look, I know that you’re a superhero and you wouldn’t know this, but… well, Lila’s in my class at school. If what you’re telling me is true, she’s been lying to us since she got there. And… those lies have had consequences. I mean, the Ladyblog is the prime source of akuma alerts and information. If it got out that I’d posted false information,” she winced, “people might not trust my blog anymore, and it wouldn’t be able to serve its function. I’ve wanted to be a journalist my entire life, Chat Noir. If I lose people’s trust in my journalistic integrity… that’s almost the worst thing I can imagine.” She took a deep and bracing breath. “I say almost the worst, because,” she paused, clenching her fists, “something worse has already happened. You probably don’t know her, but my… best friend, her name is Marinette. God, because I didn’t want to believe Lila was lying, I don’t know if I even have the right to call her that anymore. I shouted at her on Lila’s behalf and insulted and… bullied her, these past few weeks. Lila told us all such ugly lies about her, and I  _ believed _ her. Forget the blog, what kind of negative emotions do you think I’m feeling right now, knowing that I might have  _ ruined _ the first, most meaningful friendship I made in Paris?” She was crying, she realized. 

He looked shocked. “I… I never thought about it that way.”

She wiped the tears out of her eyes almost violently. “It looks like we both have a lot to make up for. Now, let’s get started.” 

  
  



	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again all! I’m so sorry that this took so long. There’s been a lot of stuff going on irl that has delayed this quite a bit. I hope that you all enjoy this chapter and that I actually get the next one done semi-on time, lol. 
> 
>  
> 
> Much love! You're all amazing!

_ Adrien _

“Hello, Paris.” Adrien looked over the camera lens at Alya, who smiled sadly and gave him a thumbs up. He cleared his throat. “Chat Noir here. I am here today to clear something up once and for all and to apologize to both my partner Ladybug and to the people of Paris who put their trust in me. I don’t know if any of you have been caught up in the last few akuma attacks, but, in case you have, and even if you haven’t, there are a few things that I need to say.” He paused, taking a deep, somewhat shaky breath. “This isn’t easy,” a somewhat awkward, strangled chuckle, escaped, “but, it needs to be said.” He tried to wipe all traces of the nervousness he felt was swallowing him from his face, and stared straight into the camera. People  _ had _ to see he was serious. “I am not proud of the way that I’ve behaved towards Ladybug recently. Without giving too much away about my personal life, suffice it to say that I grew up pretty sheltered.” A sheepish hand mussed his hair. “I’ve been homeschooled until pretty recently and don’t have much of a clue about how to interact with people. I want to make it clear that in no way does this excuse the way I’ve been behaving.” He paused.

“I’m sure that you all know the way I feel about Ladybug -- I seem to shout it from the rooftops often enough.” He smiled ruefully. “I should never have done that. The  _ second _ that she told me that I was making her uncomfortable, I should have stopped. It was  _ never _ okay for me to disregard her feelings like that. It’s never okay for  _ anyone _ to disregard someone’s feelings like that. Ladybug, I understand if you don’t want to talk to me right now, or ever, but I want you to know that I am so, _ so _ sorry for what I’ve done. I know that I can’t take back the words that I said, and I understand if you can’t forgive me, but I want you to know that I am going to do my best to make up for the things that I did and to become a partner that you can be proud of again.”

“And, to the citizens of Paris, I apologize to you as well. It is my job to protect you and this city, and I’ve been doing a poor job of that. You deserve heroes like My Lady, strong and confident, and utterly focused on protecting this city we love and ending the threat that Hawkmoth poses to it. I promise that I will do my best to make it up to you as well -- to become a hero that you can be proud of again. For now, I urge you to look around you in your everyday lives. If you see someone behaving in the way that I’ve been behaving towards Ladybug,  _ say _ something. Hawkmoth isn’t the only problem we Parisians face, but we can solve the other problems we see by being heroes ourselves. Thank you for listening to me, and, again, I’m so,  _ so _ sorry.”

After he stopped talking, Adrien could hear Alya pressing the stop button on her camera, but neither of them could find the right words to say to each other. They sat in silence for what seemed like forever until Alya shook herself out of a stupor and moved to her desk. She plugged her phone into her laptop and pressed several buttons. 

She paused, looking back over her shoulder at him. “Are you sure about this?” She asked softly. 

He closed his eyes. “Yes.” 

_ Marinette _

Marinette stared unblinkingly at the screen of her computer, the dark rectangle of a finished video stark against her pink screensaver. Despite… everything that had happened with Alya in the past few weeks, she still followed the Ladyblog. When the notification had popped up on her computer, she wasn’t sure what she was going to see. She hoped that no one had been akumatized. What Hawkmoth did to people at their most vulnerable was awful. She’d never wish that on  _ anyone _ . Then again, what was the alternative? A new interview with Lila? She had tried to hard to be the bigger person, to tell herself that she was just being dramatic or blowing things out of proportion, but the fact of the matter was that she was just a teenager, and she was hurting and that she was allowed to hurt. She didn’t know if she could take another example of her best friend choosing the word of a liar over her own.

Whatever she had expected, it wasn’t what she saw. Chat Noir’s video took her completely by surprise. She didn’t quite know what to feel. On the one hand, he’d apologized, validating feelings that only Tikki and Chloe had told her she’d been allowed to have. She felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. On the other hand, he was right, she couldn’t forgive him -- not right away. He’d made her feel so  _ small _ and so afraid. Especially with everything that had been going on at school, he’d shaken her faith in herself and in others. 

Suddenly the screen in front of her lit up again. She moused over the notification and quirked her lips.  _ Akuma. _ For better or for worse, she’d have to face Chat now. Despite the complicated feelings involved in Tikki giving the fox miraculous to someone other than Alya, she couldn’t help but be reassured by the fact that there would be another hero, another partner, who she could trust herself to work with without flinching.

“ _ Tikki, SPOTS ON!!!” _

_ Alya _

After Chat Noir left, Alya just sat, still and quiet, her mind spinning. She dimly heard the chiming from her phone and computer as the video she’d just posted accumulated views and comments. God, what had she  _ done?  _ A good journalist always checks her sources, bullshit. She’d believed a stranger over her  _ best friend _ . If she even deserved to call Marinette her best friend at this point. She’d never had friends at the small-town school she’d attended before Francios-Dupont. She’d been too pushy, too  _ intense, _ they’d said. But Marinette and her sunshine smile had accepted her the moment they’d met, encouraging even her craziest ideas and telling her that she was brave and good and just. 

She was crying, she realized. Out of the corner of tear-blurred eyes, she noticed a sticky note she'd stuck to the frame of her computer monitor days ago. That's right. She and Lila had planned to try to find Andre's Ice Cream stand that afternoon. Her jaw firmed. The gullible Alya that Lila expected wouldn't be showing up today. She grabbed her phone and threw on her favorite plaid shirt over her tank-top. She didn’t have the armor of her miraculous, but damn it all to hell, she was going into battle. 

The walk to the Pont des Arts seemed much shorter than it usually was, but, then again, her mind was racing -- she was pretty sure she hadn’t noticed anything she’d passed along the way. She sat on the bench that she’d agreed to meet Lila at and tapped one foot anxiously against the pavement. 

After a few minutes, she looked down at her watch. Lila was late. Honestly, Alya was almost relieved. She still didn’t know what to say to the other girl. From what Chat Noir had said, it sounded like she’d been cooperating with Hawkmoth willingly and Alya herself had seen what Lila had done to Marinette… and to Alya’s own credibility as a journalist. Before she’d left her room, she’d filmed another video -- her own apology to Ladybug for invading her privacy during the Oblivio incident, and to the people of Paris for posting false information on a news source that they’d trusted. 

She hadn’t posted it though, not yet. Despite everything… Lila had been a good friend these past few weeks. Alya was hurt by the things that she’d learned about the transfer student. She felt uncertain and betrayed, but she wanted to ask Lila herself about it -- to see the truth with her own eyes and to get her closure for all the dreams that would be snuffed out with Lila’s lies, and for all the damage that she herself had done, if what Chat Noir said was true. (It was, she knew it, deep in her bones. She just didn’t want to admit it quite yet.) Did it make her a bad person if she still desperately wanted it all to be a joke? 

“Hey, bestie!” Lila’s voice broke through her thoughts. “I’m  _ so _ sorry that I’m late -- I was on a conference call with Prince Ali about our environmental initiative that I just  _ couldn’t _ get away from. You understand, right?”

“... Yeah, of course.” Had her smile always looked so fake? “You ready to get some ice cream?”

“Of course! I’m so excited to be able to have ice cream again. I was diagnosed with severe lactose intolerance when I was younger and I haven’t had it for  _ years _ , but a doctor that I met when I was traveling in England put me in a clinical study and cured me!”

Alya tried her best to hide the twitching in her eye. Sabrina had lactose intolerance -- the whole class knew that she could have ice cream just fine if she took some lactase supplements beforehand. Seriously, that wasn’t how lactose intolerance worked at all! If she’d lied about something this small… 

She’d about made up her mind to say something, to shout or scream and try to get Lila to finally tell her the truth for once when the ground beneath them shook hard enough to knock her off of the bench she’d been waiting on. Looking up, she saw a woman made entirely of some sort of metal, spikes shooting out from her suit and a wickedly sharp glaive in her hand. 

_ Shit. _ Of all the times for an akuma.

_ Chloe  _

Chloe sat on her bed, notebook in front of her, listening intently to Trixx as they explained more about their miraculous and what exactly a mirage could do. They were floating back and forth through the air in front of her as if pacing, every once in a while stopping to eat one of the jelly beans in the crystal bowl on the bedside table that she’d ordered from room service for them.

“The power of the mirage is limited only by your creativity. The illusion that you cast can be as small or large as you want -- it can even be fluid if you concentrate properly. Your mirages can speak, or simply make a particular sound at whatever volume you decide. It can be threatening or unassuming, something targeted to a single person or meant to touch many. For now, your mirage is also limited by the timer in your miraculous -- the illusion will vanish with your transformation five minutes after you call for it. It will also evaporate if it is touched, although, if you train properly and hard, you’ll eventually be able to cast illusions that can hold their own form temporarily.” 

The tiny god turned large, purple eyes on Chloe. “What you must truly know, and take to heart, as the wielder of the fox miraculous, are  _ people _ . Your power is only effective if you can read others, know what your target  _ needs _ to see. Tikki seeks creativity in her bugs, that’s what they need to make the magic of the ladybug miraculous work. Plagg wants compassion to temper destruction, Noroo empathy to connect to his champions. The thing that I value above all else in a wielder isn’t cunning or cleverness or skill at lying -- on the contrary, the best illusions always have a grain of truth to them. I need a wielder who can analyze people. Someone who knows the damage that lies can cause, but can keep their feelings subdued to use their illusions however the mission requires, even if others might see the mirage as underhanded.” They smiled. “Rena Rouge was fun to work with, but she didn’t suit the fox miraculous at all. She’s too straightforward, too eager to spring physically into battle, yet not willing enough to truly hurt someone emotionally. I have a feeling you’ll do much better as my kit, Chloe.”

Chloe’s pen paused halfway across the page as a small, soft smile stole across her lips. She quickly tempered it and looked back up at Trixx. “Th-- er… Thank you Trixx.” She felt a sharp, staccato buzz against her hip and looked down at her phone. Swiping across the screen to unlock it, she saw the bright red text of an akuma alert scroll across the screen. She looked up at Trixx, who met her eyes with a smirk. 

“Well, kit, are you ready.”

Chloe nodded. “Trixx, let’s pounce!”

  
  



End file.
